Saddle design... changes over the years?

[PapaFrita]

Can someone confirm (or deny!) that SJ saddles are getting shallower and knee rolls less prominent? My own saddle (which I love and bought about 18mths ago) is very shallow but brushing cobwebs away from my ancient mind I seem to recall that SJ saddles generally were deeper and had larger knee rolls... In fact, I was reminded today when I rode in someone's old saddle and it seemed very odd!
Does it depend on the make or is it a general trend in SJ saddles?
Am I right in assuming that saddles intended for XC are still quite deep and have larger knee rolls?
Thanks very muchly as always kind peeps

 

[flyingfeet]

Most saddles have evolved over the years.

Show jumping saddles moved towards close contact, with the designs of the pessoa etc the knee rolls got smaller. Part of the reason was the change in horses- warmbloods are harder to fit a cut forward flap due to the huge shoulder movement.

Cross country saddles are not deep, the latest designs are ski backs, so that you can sit further back on drops. The knee rolls are generally larger than show jumping and the flaps cut further forward.

 

[PapaFrita]

Ah, yes. I think most saddles here follow the pessoa pattern!
What's a ski back? Does it mean that the cantle goes up further or does it extend beyond the panels (because I noticed that on a saddle quite recently)